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2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018 Elk herd disrupts farming in northwest Washington valley By DON JENKINS Capital Press Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian Crews clear a landslide on Highway 101 near Hug Point. Landslide closed Highway 101 near Hug Point By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — A landslide closed U.S. High- way 101 near Hug Point for several hours Friday afternoon. Authorities said the slide was about 4 miles south of Cannon Beach. Lou Torres, a spokes- man for the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation, said the slide mostly covered the northbound lane of the highway. The southbound lane was closed for safety reasons. Felix Martinez, the interim Warrenton area man- ager for the Department of Transportation, said the slide happened around noon. He said about 50 yards of mate- rial — or about five dump trucks worth — had fallen. There were no reported injuries or accidents caused by the slide. FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 51 41 42 A few showers early, then a little rain Still cloudy and breezy with a little rain ALMANAC Mostly cloudy Full Last Apr 29 Salem 41/55 Newport 42/51 Coos Bay 41/53 New May 7 May 15 Baker 32/50 Ontario 37/56 Bend 30/48 Burns 26/47 Klamath Falls 23/48 Lakeview 20/45 Ashland 34/53 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 9:24 a.m. 9:20 p.m. Low -0.5 ft. 1.5 ft. REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 50 46 50 49 51 43 53 50 50 50 Today Lo 32 30 40 38 43 23 36 40 42 41 W pc c sh r r sf r r r r Hi 50 48 52 53 50 48 55 52 51 53 Tues. Lo 27 29 41 37 42 28 38 38 41 40 W pc c c r r pc c r r r City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 49 52 52 51 52 50 47 49 51 57 Today Lo 40 41 43 40 41 43 36 39 42 41 W r c r r r r sh r r c Hi 52 53 55 55 55 51 49 53 53 60 Tues. Lo 38 35 42 39 39 40 32 35 40 37 W r pc r r r r pc sn r pc TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Hi 55 51 38 76 41 41 89 47 82 39 52 77 65 57 82 48 70 60 71 62 48 72 56 49 59 John Day 34/48 La Grande 34/47 Roseburg 40/55 Brookings 40/52 UNDER THE SKY Today Lo 39 42 26 45 24 29 64 20 73 29 31 49 48 43 57 35 51 42 56 40 32 34 47 43 40 Prineville 30/50 Lebanon 40/53 Medford 36/55 Tonight's Sky: Hercules emerging into the eastern evening sky before midnight. High 9.2 ft. 8.0 ft. Pendleton 41/53 The Dalles 44/57 Portland 43/55 Eugene 38/53 Sunset tonight ........................... 8:04 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday .......................... 6:26 a.m. Moonrise today ........................... 7:16 a.m. Moonset today ........................... 9:00 p.m. City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Intervals of clouds and sun Mainly cloudy and milder Tillamook 42/50 SUN AND MOON Time 2:40 a.m. 3:35 p.m. 57 44 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 42/51 Precipitation Sunday ............................................. 0.77" Month to date ................................... 8.30" Normal month to date ....................... 2.87" Year to date .................................... 31.53" Normal year to date ........................ 27.71" Apr 22 FRIDAY 57 40 REGIONAL WEATHER Astoria through Sunday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 48°/39° Normal high/low ........................... 56°/41° Record high ............................ 81° in 1947 Record low ............................. 30° in 1967 First THURSDAY 57 39 W s r sf pc s sn pc s sh c s s pc s s c s r s r pc pc t r sh Hi 72 52 44 63 53 42 85 48 82 52 65 69 70 76 79 73 79 50 83 51 62 51 62 54 54 Tues. Lo 54 37 32 29 35 28 54 24 73 36 43 51 53 60 63 55 61 40 53 40 52 35 49 42 41 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W s c pc pc pc pc s s pc pc pc s s s s s s c pc c pc sn s r pc S E D R O - W O O L L E Y, Wash. — In the Skagit River Valley rippling through a tiny portion of northwest Wash- ington, farmers and ranchers say they are overrun by elk, the consequence of a continu- ing effort by wildlife manag- ers to enlarge the North Cas- cades herd. Efforts to increase the num- ber of elk in northwest Wash- ington go back more than a century. In 1912, Skagit County brought in 46 elk from Yellow- stone National Park to increase the herd. Poachers took the elk, according to state Department of Fish and Wildlife records. In the late 1940s, the state released 22 elk from King and Yakima counties. They became the foundation of today’s herd. The most recent importa- tion of elk came between 2003 and 2005, when 98 elk from the Mount St. Helens area in southern Washington were rounded up by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and Indian tribes. The animals were herded by helicopter through livestock chutes, loaded on horse trailers and driven north to Skagit County. They were let go not far from the farms and ranches east of Sedro-Woolley. The herd grew, as intended, and farmers started seeing elk in their fields, more each year. Elk, once rare, are common now. They calve in the val- ley, stay year-round and make farming and ranching there more difficult and expensive. The elk eat hay grown for livestock, bust fences, dig up potatoes and stunt trees by gnawing on the bark. Farm- ers worry about their livestock escaping through the broken fences or becoming infected with hoof rot, a disease that plagues elk. The farmers say they are frustrated, both by the bur- geoning elk population and the lack of cooperation from wild- life managers. Tall order Farmers had no say in the importation of elk that began 15 years ago. “They didn’t ask us. They just dumped them on our prop- erty,” said John Jonasson, a hog and beef producer whose family has farmed in the val- ley since 1870. “We don’t hate the elk. We hate the numbers.” Elk are a widespread prob- lem in the Pacific Northwest, where they number nearly 300,000 and cause agricul- tural damage throughout the region. Farmers on the Olym- pic Peninsula, in the Columbia Gorge, Eastern Oregon, west- ern Idaho and elsewhere have all recently reported increasing damage caused by elk. Washington state has an estimated 50,000 and 60,000 elk in 10 herds. The North Cas- cades herd near Sedro-Wool- ley is the state’s smallest. The Fish and Wildlife Department, which co-man- ages the herd with nine Native American tribes, is working on a new herd plan. The tribes, who secured hunting rights by signing the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty, oppose submitting the plan to the Legislature for approval, but state lawmakers made a gesture and put into a spending bill instructions to Fish and Wildlife to have a plan by the end of the summer to minimize the number of elk on private land and maximize the number of elk on public land. Amy Windrope, Fish and Wildlife’s acting deputy direc- tor, said it won’t be easy. Woman who drove SUV with family off cliff was drunk, police say By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — A woman was drunk when she drove her large family off a Northern California cliff last month and her wife and several children had large amounts of a drug in their systems that can cause drowsiness, authorities said Friday. Police had previously said they believed the Hart fam- ily died in a suicide plunge from a scenic overlook. The crash happened just days after authorities in Washington state opened an investigation fol- lowing allegations the children were being neglected. Preliminary toxicology tests found Jennifer Hart had an alcohol level of 0.10, said California Patrol Capt. Bruce Carpenter. California drivers are considered drunk with a level of 0.08 or higher. Toxicology tests also found that her wife Sarah Hart and two of their children had “a signifi- cant amount” of an ingredient commonly found in the allergy drug Benadryl, which can make people sleepy. Toxicology results for a third child killed are still pending, Carpenter said. Carpenter said none of the car’s occupants were wearing seatbelts. Sarah and Jennifer Hart and their six adopted children were believed to be in the fam- ily’s SUV when it plunged off a cliff in Mendocino County, more than 160 miles north of San Francisco. PUBLIC MEETINGS Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. WHY TRAVEL? WE HAVE ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND PREDICTABLE SYSTEMS AVAILABLE! Klemp Family Dentistry offers Implants • CT scan Same day dentures Guided implant placement All on 4 implant denture X-Rays MONDAY Knappa School Board, 5:30 p.m., Knappa High School library, 41535 Old U.S. Highway 30. Youngs River Lewis & Clark Wa- ter District Board, 6 p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business. Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Jewell School Board, 7:30 p.m., Jewell School library, 83874 Oregon Highway 103. TUESDAY Cannon Beach Public Works Committee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., Port offices, 10 Pier 1 Suite 209. Seaside School District Board OREGON Sunday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 5-0-0-2 4 p.m.: 1-7-4-0 7 p.m.: 2-7-4-6 10 p.m.: 9-4-4-7 Sunday’s Lucky Lines: 03-05- 09-16-17-21-26-30 Estimated jackpot: $15,000 Saturday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 0-7-6-3 4 p.m.: 4-5-4-9 7 p.m.: 7-7-0-3 10 p.m.: 5-7-3-1 Saturday’s Lucky Lines: 03-08- 10-13-19-24-28-29 Estimated jackpot: $13,000 Saturday’s Megabucks: 1-2- 19-27-29-38 Estimated jackpot: $4 million Saturday’s Powerball: 17-19- 26-61-62, Powerball: 15 Estimated jackpot: $122 million Friday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 1-8-0-0 4 p.m.: 2-4-1-5 7 p.m.: 6-7-7-0 10 p.m.: 2-6-5-6 Friday’s Lucky Lines: 04-07- 12-15-19-22-27-29 Estimated jackpot: $12,000 Friday’s Mega Millions: 8-9- 32-42-59, Mega Ball: 10 Estimated jackpot: $67 million WASHINGTON Sunday’s Daily Game: 5-2-4 Sunday’s Keno: 03-05-08-09- 11-13-15-22-26-29-30-39-43- 46-54-58-60-67-70-73 Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Implants in progress KLEMP FAMILY DENTISTRY 1006 West Marine Drive, Astoria (503) 468-0116 www.klempfamilydentistry.com After implants and veneers of Directors, 5 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside. Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:15 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Hertig Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton. LOTTERIES The Daily Astorian Before implants She agreed with farmers’ fundamental complaint. “We need to get way more effective in getting the elk off the valley floor,” Windrope said. Beyond that, managing the elk gets more difficult, she said. A large-scale culling of the herd would cause an uproar from valley residents who enjoy the elk, and the state must respect the treaty rights of the tribes. “Finding a way forward is really tricky,” Windrope said. “I think it’s not happening fast enough for ag folks.” Upper Skagit tribe policy representative Scott Schuyler said the tribe doesn’t want to see farms harmed, but it also wants a healthy elk herd. “It’s always going to be our objective,” he said. “We real- ize it could be problematic for some, but we’re fortunate that we have the environment here to allow wildlife to remain here. “We recognize there is a balancing act we have to achieve,” he said. “The reality is not everybody is going to be 100 percent happy.” Fish and Wildlife’s plan to move elk out of the valley floor will include hunting, hazing, fences, creating elk habitat in the hills and issuing permits to farmers to shoot damage-caus- ing elk. Some farmers, though, are pessimistic. The plan doesn’t represent anything new, they say. The department already does those things. “We’re not seeing any mea- surable improvements,” Skagit County Farm Bureau President Bill Schmidt said. Skagit County Cattleman’s Association Vice President Randy Good said he’s losing hope the state will come up with something helpful. “Things aren’t getting any better,” Good said. “They’re going to get worse.” Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. 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